


A Grateful Universe

by Adelaide_Pierce



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Depression, Homeless Peter Parker, Hurt Peter Parker, Infinity Stone Soul World (Marvel), Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Temporary Character Death, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adelaide_Pierce/pseuds/Adelaide_Pierce
Summary: “I thought by eliminating half of life the other half would thrive. But you’ve shown me that’s impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist...I’m thankful. Because now I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then, with the stones you’ve collected for me, create a new one teeming with life that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A grateful universe.”“Born out of blood.”“They’ll never know it.”What if Thanos had had this idea the first time around?
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Clint Barton, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 98
Collections: Homeless Peter Parker, Post-Infinity War and Post-Endgame Fics





	A Grateful Universe

Tony shuffled his way out of the lab and downstairs to the kitchen, trying to fight down the urge to yawn. Jesus, he needed coffee. Pepper would probably want to kill him right now if she were here. She hated it when he spent long hours locked in his lab. Actually, she probably wants to kill him even though she’s not here. Tony was sure he must have done something to piss her off recently. It’d been a few days, after all, and usually like clockwork, about two to three times a week, he would receive a phone call from her berating him about something he’d done or something he hadn’t done that needed to _be_ done. He was grateful, really. Even though they were no longer together, he still needed her. There was no one else he’d trust with his company and, honestly, there were so few people he trusted, period. He’s glad they’d managed to remain friends. He didn’t know what he’d do if she decided it was all too much and just left. 

Shaking his head, he focused once more on his goal. Coffee. Clearly he’d gone without it for too long if such dreary thoughts were taking over. Slightly mournfully, he thought back to when he’d had a coffee maker in the lab. But after the incident with the coffee machine, the repulsor and the teddy bear, Rhodey had told him never again. So now anytime he needed his caffeine fix, he had to trudge all the way downstairs to the common area. 

That in itself wasn’t so bad, really. It was the people downstairs that he wasn’t in the mood for. 

“Well, I’ll be damned,” came the sarcastic remark from the ceiling grate, “It’s alive.”

Tony flipped him the finger without even bothering to look, continuing on his way towards the kitchen, “Bite me, Barton.”

“Now, now children,” said Natasha in a bored tone from her place on the sofa, idly flipping the page of her book, “Play nice.”

“We were starting to wonder if we’d have to send someone to make sure you hadn’t passed out in there….again,” Clint said, flipping down from the vent in the ceiling and landing nimbly on his feet with a cheeky grin.

“For the last time,” Tony said in exasperation, “I didn’t pass out. I was just _resting._ ”

“Face down on the floor,” Rhodey said dryly as he glanced up from the file he was examining while seated at the bartop, raising an eyebrow. His expression remained unimpressed when Tony sent him a betrayed look.

Tony sniffed but didn’t dignify that with a reply as he turned his attention back to the coffeemaker. 

“It’s alright, Stark,” Clint said, coming over to pat him on the shoulder in a show of faux sympathy, “Nothing to be ashamed of. We’ve all stayed up for 96 hours straight, forgotten to eat, overloaded on caffeine until we collapsed, and then had to have our super AI call our friends to come and peel our carcass up off the ground. Who hasn’t?” 

“Can someone _please_ find something for Barton to do,” Tony complained loudly, shoving his hand away and scowling at the archer, “besides his current position as a full-time member of the peanut gallery?”

Clint snorted, “Where else would I be besides bothering you people?”

Natasha turned another page of her book and said mildly, “We desperately need to find you a girlfriend so you have someone else to annoy besides us.” 

“Please,” Clint scoffed, gesturing to himself and wiggling his hips a bit to make his point,“Like there’s a woman out there who could _handle_ all this.”

Now it was Natasha’s turn to look unimpressed. 

Just then, Steve wandered out of the elevator, pausing for a moment when he caught sight of Tony. 

“Where are you coming from, Cap?” Clint called out, a mischievous smirk dancing around the corners of his mouth, seemingly unaffected by Natasha’s silent judgement, “Not running from your adoring fans again, are you? I didn’t notice any security guards fighting them off this time.”

Steve rolled his eyes at him but ignored the jab and made his way over to Tony in the kitchen. 

“Tony,” he said briskly, “Glad you’re here. I’d like to go over some of these reports-”

The billionaire held up a hand, “Slow your roll there, Cap. I’m just here for the caffeine and then I’m headed back to the lab.”

Steve pursed his lips but didn’t say anything. Rhodey, on the other hand, gave Tony a look. 

“You’ve been up there for ages, man,” he said, with an air of long suffering exasperation that Tony couldn’t say was entirely undeserved, “Maybe you should take a break.”

“No can do, platypus,” Tony said, sweeping up his mug and leaning against the counter, blowing idly on the liquid to cool it, “At a delicate stage and I can’t leave it alone for too long.” 

“Fine,” Rhodey said with a defeated sigh, knowing better than to argue. Tony had to be much closer to complete burnout before you could force him to abandon something mid-project, “At least eat something before you go back up.”

Conceding to the compromise, Tony gave him a gallant nod and grabbed a leftover carton of fried rice from the fridge and a fork from the drawer. Armed with coffee and chinese, he turned to address the room at large, “Gentlemen. Lady.” He turned to head back upstairs. 

“We’re gonna need you at the team meeting on Friday to go over the new Hydra information,” Cap called after him, his tone sardonic, “Think you’ll be available by then?”

Tony raised his coffee mug in acknowledgement without bothering to look back. Ignoring Cap’s exasperated sigh, he retreated back into his lab, mind already back on his projects. 

* * *

“Boss,” Friday’s voice rang out, interrupting Tony as he worked on his idea for a nanotech suit. 

“ _What_ , Friday?” he asked, frustrated at the interruption. He’d been struggling with the design for the past few hours (or days? How long had it been since his last coffeebreak?). He _could not_ get the particles to stabilize and only just started feeling like he was getting somewhere. 

“I have detected an intruder on the roof,” Friday informed him. 

That got his attention. 

“Then why have you not initiated the security protocols?” he said, standing up swiftly and checking the time on his watch. It was 3am, not a normal time for a social call, particularly via the roof. He should probably put on a suit. He cast a mournful look back at the nanotech. He was looking forward to finally getting that figured out and being able to get suited up at a moment’s notice. 

“The intruder does not appear to be hostile,” the AI replied calmly and Tony’s brow furrowed. 

“You make that determination based on what data?” he asked, wondering if somehow they had hacked into Friday’s system and messed with her protocols. 

“Since arriving on the rooftop, the intruder has made no attempt to enter the building or damage it in any way. They have remained in one spot.”

That was…different. Were they waiting for backup? But they had to know he’d have pretty intense security for this building and would be alerted as soon as they trespassed. Why give him the extra time in order to mount a defense? They lost the element of surprise this way. Were they just testing the security to see if they would be detected or not? 

“Friday,” he said, brow still furrowed as he tried to puzzle this strange situation out, “Alert Rhodey that there’s an intruder on the roof and that I’m going up there to check it out. Don’t tell the rest of the team for now. No need to call in the cavalry. Tell him to get his suit on and be on standby in case I need backup.”

“Right away, Boss,” Friday replied promptly and Tony quickly donned his armor and slipped out of the lab to head up to the roof. 

He stepped cautiously out onto the crushed gravel that covered the rooftop, trying to minimize but not able to entirely conceal the clink of his metal boot on the stone. Wincing, he quickly inspected the area and raised an eyebrow when he found the intruder just sitting on the edge of the roof, seeming oddly relaxed, their legs swinging out over the edge into oblivion. 

Tony wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he finally reached the top of the building but this wasn’t it. He couldn’t see their face, only the messy brown curls that covered the back of their head and their clothes which consisted of a worn canvas jacket that was much too thin for the current weather and a pair of beat up jeans that looked as though they had certainly seen better days. 

The intruder didn’t turn around. 

“You’re lucky I don’t have this whole rooftop electrified to keep out trespassers,” Tony said, voice nonchalant even as his eyes darted around the rest of the area to make sure there was no one hidden in the shadows that Friday’s sensors hadn’t detected waiting to jump him, “Otherwise you’d have been barbequed as soon as you got up here.”

The person snorted but didn’t act surprised, confirming Tony’s suspicion that they’d known he was behind them, “Not really your style to shoot first and ask questions later. Besides, I doubt you could get away with that particular security measure with someone like Hawkeye on your team. I’ve heard he likes high places.” 

Tony froze. That voice sounded _young_. 

_Young doesn’t mean ‘not dangerous’,_ a voice in his head pointed out, _look at Natasha._

Shaking himself, he sidestepped the air conditioning unit and moved a little closer. 

“I’m sorry, do you have any idea who I am? Shoot first and ask questions later is kind of my whole playbook.”

The person shook their head but still didn’t turn around, “You only shoot first when you think you already know all the answers. That’s different than not caring what the answers are and attacking anyway.” 

Tony let that sink in, feeling oddly known by this person despite the fact he had no fucking idea who they were. He didn’t like how vulnerable that made him. But they weren’t wrong.

“What are you doing up here?” he asked, a hard edge to his voice, letting the smart-alecky banter take a back seat. 

“This is the tallest building in the city,” the unknown male replied matter-of-factly. Tony waited for him to continue but he didn’t say anything else, just quietly continued to swing his legs back and forth over open air. 

“So....what? You just came up here to check out the view? Watch the sunset?” Tony asked sarcastically. 

“It’s the middle of the night,” the guy pointed out.

“ _What are you doing up here_?” Tony questioned again harshly. 

“That _is_ why I’m up here,” he answered calmly, still not turning around, “Most people probably think the Empire State building is the tallest but that’s only because of the antenna. The actual height of the building is only 1,250 feet and your tower is 1,295 feet. I looked it up.”

Tony frowned hard at the back of the intruders head, not that they could see it since they still hadn’t turned around. They couldn’t have anyways under the faceplate. He couldn’t figure this out.

“Then _how_ did you get up here?” he asked, deciding to switch tactics. 

“I climbed,” he said simply. 

“You…climbed,” Tony repeated skeptically, glancing doubtfully over the edge of the building to eye the roughly 108 stories leading to the ground. 

“I’m good at climbing,” the guy said, and fuck, if he didn’t sound almost _amused_.

“Alright enough of this,” Tony said, frustrated now. He flipped up the faceplate and came a few steps closer, “Who the hell are you?”

The person snorted again, but this time there was more of a bitter edge to it, “I’m no one.”

“ _Give me your_ _name_ ,” Tony said, dangerously, at the end of his patience.

The intruder sighed before finally turning to face him, “My name is Peter Parker.” 

Tony had to fight hard not to let any reaction show on his face, but he didn’t think he was entirely successful at hiding his surprise. His initial assessment of the intruder’s voice did not appear to be far off the mark. The kid looked _young_ but it was difficult to place an exact age because of how godawful _thin_ he was. It had been harder to tell when the boy had been facing away from him, as the oversized jacket he was wearing concealed a lot of his frame, but now that he’d turned around, Tony could see his face looked almost emaciated. His cheekbones stood out in stark relief on his pale face and his eyes looked almost sunken in with dark circles beneath them. He could also see now that beneath the coat the kid had on only a threadbare t-shirt that looked to be barely holding itself together and he was shivering lightly in the cold wind. The boy was looking at him searchingly, sunken, dull brown eyes roving desperately over his face but whatever he was looking for, he didn’t seem to find it. 

The boy sighed, shoulders slumping and idly blew an errant messy brown curl out of his face, “Not that it matters. You won’t find that name anywhere. It is my real one but it doesn’t exist in any official databases. Not anymore.”

Tony forced himself to suppress his surprise at the intruder’s appearance and apparent age. If this kid was able to erase himself from government databases then he was dangerous and Tony couldn’t let down his guard. He squared his shoulders and took another threatening step closer. 

“Why are you here?” he asked again. 

The kid, Peter, sighed, “I _told_ you already. Your building-”

“Right,” Tony cut him off, waving a gauntlet-covered hand dismissively, “My building is the tallest in New York. But you’ve got to have a reason to want to be up on the tallest building in New York at ass o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday in the middle of November.”

The boy stared at him, a bit nonplussed, “It’s Thursday.”

Tony scowled, but didn’t argue as he knew there was a possibility that the kid was right. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d lost track of the days while working in the lab. 

The boy simply looked at him for another moment before finally saying, “We used to know each other.”

Tony wasn’t sure what to say to that. He could tell the kid was watching him very closely for a reaction so he racked his brain to try and remember how they could have met before. The boy’s face wasn’t familiar, but that wasn’t surprising. Tony didn’t spend much time around kids. He supposed it was possible that they’d met before and it simply hadn’t made enough of an impression on him for him to remember, but he doubted that just one meeting could be characterized as _knowing_ each other. Then again, if this kid was a young, supervillain-in-the-making, those guys often took meetings with Tony (no matter how brief) extremely personally. Aldrich Killian was proof of that. 

There was also the possibility that this kid may not be totally right in the head. In fact, right now that scenario seemed the most likely when he considered that so far the boy had claimed to have climbed _108 stories_ just to sit on the rooftop of the tallest building in New York. 

Some of what Tony was thinking must have shown on his face because Peter nodded to himself looking resigned and turned to look back out at the city, “Don’t worry, Mr. Stark. I know I have no way to prove that to you and I’m not going to try.” 

Tony frowned and opened his mouth to ask another question but froze when the boy continued quietly, “I used to want to prove it to you. I would lie awake at night and try to think of a way, any possible way I could convince you that it was true. Then, I realized that there was no way I could and instead I would lie awake wondering why he picked me for this. Clearly I was the wrong person for the job.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “What job is that?” Tony questioned. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Peter said dully, sounding utterly defeated, “I failed. I’ve failed everyone and I can’t think of any way to fix it. I don’t think the damage can be undone.” 

“What _damage_?” he asked, feeling more frustrated by the moment at this kid’s vague allusions. 

Peter glanced back at him, his gaze heavy, “I know what you saw in the wormhole, Mr. Stark.”

Tony stiffened in spite of himself, an instinctual reaction to the thing that had haunted his nightmares for years. He clenched his jaw. 

“I know,” Peter said again, but his voice was kind rather than threatening like he might have expected, “And I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to worry about it anymore. They won’t be coming here again. They don’t need to.”

Somehow that filled Tony more with foreboding than relief. However, before he could ask any more questions, he heard a crackle from the comm in his ear quickly followed by Rhodey’s voice. 

‘ _Need any help,Tones?_ ’ 

Tony noticed the boy’s eyes flick to his earpiece, almost as though he had heard Rhodey’s question even though there was no way he should have been able to with the distance still between them. 

“Don’t worry, Mr. Stark,” the boy said, “I’ll be gone shortly.”

For the first time since he’d begun this strange conversation, Tony raised his repulsor. 

“You’re not going anywhere,” Tony stated firmly with just a hint of a threat.

Giving him a pained smile, the boy climbed to his feet. Suddenly, Tony was very aware of how he was right on the edge of the building, something he’d somehow been able to overlook when the kid was sitting and looking so weirdly at ease despite the height. He couldn’t shoot him with the repulsor or the kid might fall.

“You asked me why I was up here on the tallest building in New York at ass o’clock in the morning in the middle of November,” the kid said, and Tony held his breath as the icy breeze buffeted him, making the boy sway slightly where he stood and messing up his curls even more, “I was in a plane crash once, you know. It was thousands of feet up in the air before it started to fall and I was only able to control the descent a little bit before we hit the ground. I think the fact that we ended up on Coney Island beach helped soften the landing, but it still hurt like a bitch.” 

Tony couldn’t recall any planes crashing on Coney Island in recent history, but it was difficult to think clearly with this kid swaying in the wind so dangerously close to the edge. 

“I needed to make sure this would work the first time so I had to control the variables,” Peter said, and Tony was alarmed when he saw the kid slowly start to turn around to face the skyline, “We were below the top of the buildings by the time we hit the ground and clearly the height wasn’t enough, so I needed to be up as high as possible. There’s only concrete below so no chance of a soft landing. And there’s no controlling the velocity from up here.” 

“Kid,” Tony breathed, eyes wide, “What the hell are you doing?”

“This is the endgame, Mr. Stark,” the boy replied and he sounded oddly detached now, staring unflinchingly down from a height that would make even Hawkeye a little green, “And I’m finding my own way out.”

“Wait!” Tony said, moving a little closer, quick but cautious, not wanting to accidentally startle the boy into a fall. There was a good chance he’d be able to catch him using the suit but he’d rather it didn’t come to that. _God, he was just a boy_ \- “Just-just hold on for a second. You don’t need to do this. Whatever this is, we can-we can fix it ok? We can fix it. Just-just come down over here and explain things to me.”

“You wouldn’t believe me,” Peter said with such certainty that it was clear it was something he believed down to his bones.

“Try me,” Tony said desperately, hand outstretched as he inched closer. If he could just reach the kid, maybe he could pull him down to safety, “Just come down and we can-”

“ _Tony?_ ” Rhodey’s voice crackled in his ear again, “ _You good?_ ”

Tony hesitated for half a second before he turned his head slightly and hissed into his comm, “ _Hold on_!”, not wanting to risk Rhodey charging up here and accidently sending the boy tumbling over the side of the building. 

He turned back to the kid, to find Peter looking back at him with a sad smile on his face, the dark circles under his eyes making him look unbearably weary. 

“It was good to see you again, sir,” he said softly, almost too soft to hear, the wind whipping the words away into the night. 

“Kid, please,” Tony said, fear making his chest tight. He couldn’t deal with this. He didn’t know how to deal with this. He was still too far away, if the boy fell now- “Please don’t- we can fix it. I swear we can fix it. Just please, please come down.”

Peter glanced back towards the skyline but then seemed to hesitate. Tony watched, breath caught in his throat as the boy slowly turned back to face him. For one heart-stopping moment Tony thought he might have gotten through to him and that the kid would climb back down. 

But, before he could react, the boy flicked his wrist twice at Tony and a white, sticky substance flew at him, first gluing his feet to the ground and then wrapping around his arms, making it impossible for him to move. 

Shocked, Tony tried to pull himself free but felt his panic go up a few notches as he realized he was firmly stuck in place. He lifted his head to look back at Peter only to find him watching him, pain in his eyes but no regret.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and then in the next instant he closed his eyes and let himself fall backwards, disappearing over the edge.

“NO!” Tony cried, instinctively lunging towards him only to be held back by the glue-like substance trapping his feet. 

“Rhodey! Rhodey!” he said frantically into his comm. 

The comm crackled once more, “ _Ton_ -”

“He fell off the south side of the building,” Tony cut him off harshly, still trying to pull himself free, “Catch him!” 

There wasn’t any reply and Tony could only pray Rhodey would get to the kid in time. He tried desperately to get himself free but he could feel panic making his breath shorten and he began to feel lightheaded. 

He fired up the repulsors which allowed him, with some struggle, to melt enough of his restraints to get at least his arms free. Mentally, he couldn’t help but calculate how many seconds it would be before the kid hit the ground. _5…4...3..._

“Jesus, Friday, get this thing open,” he gasped, the metal of the suit suddenly feeling like it was closing in around him, “Get it off me.”

Friday obediently opened the suit and Tony tumbled out of it onto the ground, the gravel of the rooftop biting into his hands and knees. Gasping for breath, creating little swirls of cold mist in the air around him, he clenched his hands, letting the pain of the stones as they cut into the skin of his palms ground him. 

Finally after what seemed like hours, he could hear the whir of Rhodey’s suit approaching and he looked up fearfully to see Rhodey appear in front of him with Peter lying limp in his arms. 

“Is-is he-” Tony gasped, sitting back on his heels and scanning the body in Rhodey’s arms for any twitch or rise and fall of the kid’s chest that would mean he’d survived the fall. 

“I caught him before he hit the ground,” Rhodey said, coming forward, boots clinking on the gravel, “He tried to fight me so I put him out with a tranquilizer. What the hell, Tony?”

Tony sagged with relief, slumping and resting his hands on his thighs, still trying to catch his breath.

“Tony,” Rhodey said again, tone even more serious and his eyes showed a flash of concern, “What happened?”

It was a good question. The whole thing had escalated so quickly Tony was still trying to process everything that had just occurred. But one fact was painfully clear.

“...He tried to kill himself,” he replied finally. 

Rhodey didn’t seem to know how to process that either. 


End file.
